Brewerie serves with a chaser of history

QUICK SIPs

Brewerie at Union Station
What to know: 123 W. 14th St. 454-2200. www.brewerie.com.
Hours: Mondays through Thursdays, 11:30 a.m. to 10 p.m.; and Fridays and Saturdays, 11:30 a.m. to midnight.
What's special: Happy hour, Mondays through Thursdays, 5-7 p.m., with half off drafts, mixed drinks and appetizers. Late-night draft specials, Fridays and Saturdays, 10 p.m. to midnight, $2.
What's cool: If you're looking for beer on the go, hit the Brew Thru. The Brewerie's six pack and bottle shop is downtown's one-stop shop for craft and micro brewed beer. Open regular Brewerie hours Mondays through Saturdays.
DRINK OF THE WEEK
Gino's 3 Berry Wheat
In a pint glass pour:
Gino's 3 Berry Wheat
Gene "Gino" Young, the brewmeister at Brewerie, is proud to have his name on this warm-weather seasonal creation. A multiple award-winning beer, 3 Berry Wheat is a light American wheat-flavored beer with blueberries, blackberries and raspberries.
-- Scott McClelland

Patrons, including Bill Fuhrman, left, and Julie Watkins, hang out at The Brewerie At Union Station in Erie on July 6. GREG WOHLFORD/ERIE TIMES-NEWS

Brewerie at Union Station remains downtown's most majestic and inspiring place to take your friends and family for a drink or a meal. The augustly restored grand train station, with its stunning rotunda ceiling and marble-engraved signs that told long ago passengers where to buy a ticket, send a telegram or find the newsstand, keeps a nostalgic imagination doing somersaults as you enjoy a freshly brewed pint of ale or a glass of fine wine.

With its brewing tanks in full view through amber colored glass off the rotunda dining room, Brewerie offers you a host of beer choices from "tank to tap to glass." And, all of this is within the resplendent beauty of Union Station or outdoors on the bar's impressive Trackside Beer Garden.

Climbing up the stairs to the upper level gives you a new perspective on this gem of a location. Brewerie offers private balcony seating (by reservation only) for anyone who would like a romantic repast.

Through a set of double doors on the raised railroad platform behind Union Station sits the Trackside Beer Garden. When you first step outside, it feels as if you've accidentally walked onto the set of a Hollywood movie.

Nineteenth-century wagons with luggage and steamer trunks adorn the sides of the large beer garden. General Manager Chris Sirianni and his staff have taken great care in re-purposing items from the cavernous antique-filled cellar at Union Station.

Intimate tables made from great wire spools have proved ideal for the outdoor deck. Long table tops are fashioned from antique hardwood doors. Vintage photos of Union Station have been artfully varnished onto the door-top tables -- just another reminder of the splendor of a railway heyday.

Brewerie has several big events in the offing. On Friday is the Bluegrass & Brew BBQ (tickets may still be available). The bar's block party lands on the first Thursday in August. And, the Arts & Drafts Festival tunes up Sept. 6-8, with more than 30 local artists and 20 bands.

At home in one of downtown Erie's most historic locales, Brewerie at Union Station is now making its own history -- one pint at a time.

QUICK SIPs

Brewerie at Union Station
What to know: 123 W. 14th St. 454-2200. www.brewerie.com.
Hours: Mondays through Thursdays, 11:30 a.m. to 10 p.m.; and Fridays and Saturdays, 11:30 a.m. to midnight.
What's special: Happy hour, Mondays through Thursdays, 5-7 p.m., with half off drafts, mixed drinks and appetizers. Late-night draft specials, Fridays and Saturdays, 10 p.m. to midnight, $2.
What's cool: If you're looking for beer on the go, hit the Brew Thru. The Brewerie's six pack and bottle shop is downtown's one-stop shop for craft and micro brewed beer. Open regular Brewerie hours Mondays through Saturdays.
DRINK OF THE WEEK
Gino's 3 Berry Wheat
In a pint glass pour:
Gino's 3 Berry Wheat
Gene "Gino" Young, the brewmeister at Brewerie, is proud to have his name on this warm-weather seasonal creation. A multiple award-winning beer, 3 Berry Wheat is a light American wheat-flavored beer with blueberries, blackberries and raspberries.
-- Scott McClelland